High above the Gusandall station, an AARGH covert operations specialist stands vigilant and resolute, ever watching... Watching the comings and goings of the space lanes through Gus and surrounds. Along with her associates in various systems, she is able to report any possible prey directly to the AARGH HQ.

On a rather quiet evening, with not even a hint of possible targets anywhere nearby she still patiently waited, a true virtue of hers. A Probe ventures into the once mighty fortress of Gusandall, once vibrant with frigates from all parts of the universe, now just a way point on journeys further afield.

Thinking nothing of it as the Probe docks at the station, she continues to watch her screens, a little Invader Zim to keep her company, The Probe undocks and she spots it out of the corner of her eye, again thinking nothing of it, probably only warp straight to Eifer or Ingunn if it were feeling a little frisky... But it doesn't warp... Instead slowly moving away from the station, my covops friend starts to pay a little more attention, an unaffiliated pilot, in a Probe, in lowesec, what the devil was he up to?

CYNO!

CYNO!

CYNO!

She repeats her cry three times.

LOOKS TO BE OUT OF DOCK RANGE!

I immediately board something more suited to a prolonged fight under station guns, my mighty Megathron 'Gaspode'

I undock with haste, reports still filtering through all the time, nothing has jumped through yet.
Once out of the dock, my systems calibrate and show the Probe and cyno 18km away, I pulse my mwd, drop a flight of Garde II sentry drones and lock up the probe, no need to tackle and wait to see what jumps through. The cyno is a good 15km away from the stations docking range

Not long to wait, a Thanatos carrier jumps through and I immediately tackle it, my sentry drones ordered to pop the Probe, they dutifully comply.

All attention is now on the carrier. It is scrammed and webbed, sentry drones and blasters start punching holes in her shields, eagerly straining to get at the meat of the Thanatos, it's massive armour tank. All the while, I calmly ask in a shared intel channel if there was anyone about interested in a carrier kill, the channel lit up like last weeks xmas lights, and folk started making all haste to the ghost town that Gusandall has become. Folk from all walks of life rushed for that one last piece of gold, to help the Sheriff of this little corner of outlaw space dispense justice.

My biggest concern was the carrier pilot self destructing, next up was the fact he deployed fighters in my general direction, but I ordered a full stop of my drives and held firm, my tank already being severely tested by the station guns. Next up on the concern-o-meter was the neut being applied to my capacitor, this fella wasn't going down without somewhat of a fight, but I was timing my cap booster cycles pretty well and continued to tank as more guns arrived.

The Thanatos now out of shields was having chunks of its armour decimated by the arrival of more and more guns, eventually nine other pilots joining in the festivities. The Thanatos tank wasn't holding up too well and as it hit structure the pilot declared he would self destruct... Too little too late my friend, this kind of cowardice would just not stand as we continued our assault. I had burnt through all my cap boosters , no cap left and at half armour, no reps as the Thanatos explodes.

The explosion from a capital ship is a joy to behold and this one more so as I haven't been on a carrier kill for a good long while, and this was the first capital ship to explode in Gus for even longer.

Sometimes a little fortune favours the brave but as most the entities that came to help were hostile I made my way back to the station and docked to survey the damage to Gaspode and bask in the glow of the shiny killmail.

Happy New Year every one, thanks for your time and continued support, all the best for 2013.
Stay strong and never surrender.

Saturday, 29 December 2012

It is the fate of all banisters worth sliding down that there is something nasty waiting at the far end. -- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

A few weeks ago I prodded some CCP devs on Twitter (Follow me @Kane_Rizzel) to get this thread some attention, lo and behold it worked and a dev responded and said that due to the holiday season the devs in charge of such changes wouldn't be around until the new year. In the interim however, Gusandall has become a ghost town for frigate PvP, and this saddens me.

This is still something I feel really strongly about. One of the upsides of this change though is that Gistii modules have sky-rocketed in price and even though I'm sitting on several billion ISK worth of of them, looted from those that CCP said farmed the plexes for ISK, I will not saturate the market with them, I will hold onto them until server end, or use them myself to make my frigates loot piñatas for those intrepid souls brave enough to venture into lowsec with their frigates for little to no reward.

I lost my Venture a few nights ago, but have it replaced already, using a carebear ship designed for carebears, by carebears to kill carebears is one of my favourite things

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Many years ago I created this signature for my forum presence, one of my all time favourite Zombie movies, Shaun of the Dead was my inspiration because I was particularly drawn to a specific quote:
You've got RED on you

This quote has now become an Alliance, ingame, NovaKane Incorporated and associates will now fly under a single banner, as by now everyone knows who is part of my family anyways and it will make red standings easier to monitor between our various corps. For those don't know, we only have one standing, red, normally set for people who are known blobbers or dishonourable types that fly with logi/ecm. everyone else is just a neutral waiting to be red.

Now y'all know I do from time to time fly with others, but this is what NovaKane's standings look like, two of the excellent's are my associates corporations, the other is an old friends corp, now retired planetside and no longer a Capsuleer.

I don't shoot my personal friends, and there are a few, but I know them by name and I hope they would afford me the same courtesy, so I don't need to set blue.

Other than that, if it moves, shoot it, safeties off, open fire... If it doesn't move, shoot it, in case it decides to move at a later date, pay it forward folks.

My new occupation has not met with great success, every damn time I try to mine some bastard tries to shoot me, so instead of rocks, I have to mine hulls. Now somebody said that this is salvaging, but I don't even have that skill.
I've decided to name and shame the horrible people who keep intefering with my peaceful mining operation:

NovaKane Incorporated has declared war on Void-Legion.Within 24 hours fighting can legally occur between those involved. If war is due to a corporation at war joining an alliance, then the war starts immediately instead.

Sunday, 9 December 2012

"'E's fighting in there!" he stuttered, grabbing the captain's arm."All by himself?" said the captain."No, with everyone!" shouted Nobby, hopping from one foot to the other. -- Making Friends and Hitting People (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

I have never supported the idea of Arenas in EVE, I never had a need to, as the 1/10 and 2/10 plexes always supplied what I thought were Arenas, but made so by the players themselves.

So now that CCP have taken away player made arenas without a proper explanation, even though we, the arena Gladiators, have specifically asked for one and been ignored.
I propose Combat Arenas be introduced into the systems that were home to the 2/10s that allow only frigates and destroyer hulls inside, anything outside, but no cloaks... At all.

Not sure how to make them worthwhile, the 2/10s, whilst not massive ISK printers, could always lure players who wanted to try their hand at some lowsec shenanigans without risking their shiny big ships, which is why they were perfect meeting spots for rascally types to violence each other.
Don't know about the highsec plexes but the lowsec plexes were policed by the players, even with the limited resources we had available to us to do so, but anybody who tried to run the 2/10 in Gus whilst I was online knows exactly what can happen.

I even have a name for these Arenas, [Insert System Name] Coliseum, Maybe have a point system whereby you score a single point for each gladiatorial kill and lose a point foe each death made inside the coliseum, with a built in ranking system.

Or scratch the ranking system, not sure I like that idea, but anyways, this is just something I've been thinking about.

I'm still out there, in space, doing my thing, having some fun with some rather unconventional ships, and I'm loving the new gate gun mechanics.

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

It is with great sadness that I report the death of a very old friend of mine.

We shared many an adventure, some epic late night shenanigans, but the universe turns and I shall have to find something new, what that is, I don't know.

I guess I can no longer call myself the Arch-Chancellor of Gusandall, as the school has been closed. Five years, seven months and seven days of some of the most epic lessons in spaceship violence, good and bad.
Log on traps, log offs, plex farmers, anti-pirates, lowbies, newbies, fortune hunters, bounty hunters, blobs, cloakies, nano fiends, ECM fiends, friends and enemies, I salute you all and all the fun times we had in Gusandall.

Saturday, 1 December 2012

CCP have seemingly lost their minds... AGAIN... And are looking at removing ALL 1/10 and 2/10 static plexes... No more Gusandall small ship PvP haven, no more Heild, Bogolek or countless other systems where folk can enjoy civilised small ship PvP.

As the Arch-Chancellor of Gusandall and Guardian of the 2/10 for almost six years, I call on all my readers, followers, friends and foes to speak out against this madness.

Thursday, 15 November 2012

Chain-mail isn't much defence against an arrow. It certainly isn't when the arrow is being aimed between your eyes. -- (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Setting up for a day of hunting is second nature to NovaKane Inc and all it's associates. The most fertile hunting grounds are probed, bookmarks are made and eyes are kept, the system is scanned whenever potential prey appears on the local comms network.

Spotting probes on scan means that someone else is looking for something, just like we are, but we make our fortune by the misfortune of others, while they are looking for anomalies and complexes.

The day started with little luck as a Harpy warped away before I could get in range in the 2/10 of Gusandall, but soon fleet comms broke the silence as a Hurricane was spotted on scan in Eifer.
My associate checks the bookmarks and it isn't at the wormhole, or the radar complex, which is strange, as there is only one other site in Eifer and nobody runs those. So she drops a set of combat probes and after the first sweep pulls them in as the weak hit shows it near a nebula, she warps in and sure enough, the Hurricane is gas mining...

I start to ready a ship to engage the hurricane when my associate screams over comms

"There's only a bloody Golem just warped in next to the Hurricane... Same corp!"

Holy shit, things have just brightened up as I shout for the deck crew to ready the Megathron.

I undock with all haste and warp to Eifer gate, waiting for my associate to set up a warp in close enough, but her elation soon turns as the Golem warps away, but not in the direction of a any celestials, she quickly changes tack and warps at range to the radar site, lo and behold the Golem is there, she quickly gets close enough for a warp in, but not close enough to get decloaked by the massive Golem.

I jump in and initiate warp to her position, as soon as I do she moves off, this is going to be close as the Golem is moving and I land just shy of overloaded scram range, a quick pulse of the microwarp drive and I'm in range, I drop sentry drones and move in for the kill.

At point blank range the Golem tank, impressive as it is, stands no chance, it melts under the furious assault, the Golem violently rocks as fuel and atmosphere escape through the massive holes torn out of her hull, a final volley igniting both them and the hold of missiles, a bright flash lights the sky of Eifer, the Golem just another wreck in the vast universe.

Bellatrix Torha > i just hate that game. u can't just get online after such a long time and have fun :-(

The loot fairy smiles upon me, a rather flash shield booster, which will more than make up for my loss to a trap a few nights ago.

Saturday, 3 November 2012

Quote #336.Sham Harga had run a succesful eatery
for many years by always smiling, never extending credit, and realizing
that most of his customers wanted meals properly balanced between the
four food groups: sugar, starch, grease and burnt crunchy bits. -- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

Both fights actually occurred separately from each other, with the Hurricane pilot losing another Hurricane to the Cyclone pilot a few minutes later, I tried to crash the party but the Cyclone pilot warped out to go get more drones and rep whatever armour damage and get new boosters whatever.
He came back and we had an epic battle, me down to one cap booster, his guns burnt out.

Saturday, 27 October 2012

It is a fact that although the Death of the Discworld is, in his own
words, an ANTHROPOMORPHIC PERSONIFICATION, he long ago gave up using the
traditional skeletal horses, because of the bother of having to stop
all the time to wire bits back on. -- (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

Friday, 26 October 2012

"Why do you bother with him? He's had thousands of people killed!""Yes, but perhaps he thought that you wanted it." -- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)

According
to Battleclinic, I have inflicted over one trillion ISK in damage over
my many years of piracy. A staggering figure and one which quite frankly blows my mind. In the process I have lost 21.75billion ISK in ships and modules...

An expensive past time this ole Piracy lark.

So what makes an effective Pirate? A question asked on the forums many times with various and very verbose explanations given, but the one thing I believe, is that a Pirate makes money from the violence he inflicts, minimising losses to increase profit.

Pirates are just businessmen... with guns, we redistribute the wealth, from your wallet, into ours, much like any businessman with any savvy.

So the question I now ask is this, would you do anything with in your power to make your business more profitable?

So this brings me on to the second part of this blog, and the part where I make a statement and then tell a story

Statement: I
will no longer debate my use of links or entertain discourse with regards to their use with anonymous posters, comments by anonymous users or users not using their main in-game name will be deleted.

What I
will do is give a little background as to why links made me the
effective Pirate I am today. The key word here is Pirate, cause that is
what I am.

I have never claimed to be the best solo PVPer in the game,
nor have I ever claimed to be the best PVPer in my area, but what I will
say, is that I'm one of the best pirates in the game and the numbers
above give credence to my claim

The links were a remedy to my
hunting of ISK farmers who would farm the 2/10 in nigh untouchable super
frigates, who used a combination of the powerful gistii afterburners (which at the time gave better speed boosts than ordinary afterburners) and long range tackle to try and hold me in place whilst their friends would come and try kill me. Quite often elaborate traps were set to try and dissuade me from engaging them but I had built a powerful Jaguar that was perfect for hunting these pilots, but as time went on, they got faster and used ever more elaborate traps or just simply, warped away.

I got a little frustrated with these guys getting away, running the plex with impunity, them and their buddies laughing at me as I couldn't catch them or fell into their traps. Things had to change and in the NovaKane hangar, Keira was industriously studying leadership, she even went out of her way to purchase a mindlink that would be implanted once she had acquired sufficient knowledge to not have it fry her brain.

Skirmish links also allowed me to catch ISK farmers that plagued Ingunn, the extra range and speed afforded by said links meant I was able to catch the gun shy farmers no matter the distance, despite their over reliance on warp core stabilizers.

Links have made me a better Pirate, just as some use ECM or sheer numbers, with the help of their own links, I use the tools at my disposal and make no apologies for it.

And then there are the fights, where no links are needed, or used, a fight where all involved are there to shoot and be shot at, such as one which occurred only minutes ago in Eifer, a Rifter and Incursus, seemingly together, but not sure as a friend had watched the Rifter pilot dispatch a rather speedy and cocky IVY pilot back to highsec. I bring my own Incursus and this time I remembered to deploy my drone as I mark the Rifter as the primary threat and make with dispatching him as fast as possible but I fail key tackle and let him get out of range, so I switch to the Incursus as the Rifter goes out to about 20km to claw back some armour, the Incursus is rocked from top to bottom as lethal Null rounds slam into his hull, and he evaporates so fast after the armour disintegrated I almost double checked I didn't let the bugger slip away with some fail tackle, but the fight was not over, the Rifter barrels back in and I overheat everything... EVERYTHING.

Thursday, 25 October 2012

"These people were not only cheering, they were throwing flowers and
hats. The hats were made of stone, but the thought was there." -- Life among the primitive Discworld tribes

(Terry Pratchett, Eric)

My day started with a rather extreme workout, for which my muscles aren't thanking me for right now, but to avoid the atrophy of long spells spent in a capsule full of goo, it's a necessary evil.
The 2/10 seems to be picking up again, thanks to the likes of Sard Caid and his stream and Miura Bull's fantastic guide promoting them as bastions of PvP, the one in Gus is seeing a little more attention paid to it, and this is a good thing.

The first fight of the day was against a Jaguar, a ship I am intimately acquainted with, as of late there is a rather nasty dual medium ancillary shield booster fit making the rounds but regardless I chose a fun new ship to play with, The Sentinel.

Sentinel

Name: Sentinel
Hull: Crucifier Class
Role: Electronic Attack ShipElectronic attack ships are mobile, resilient electronic warfare
platforms. Although well suited to a variety of situations, they really
come into their own in skirmish and fleet encounters, particularly
against larger ships. For anyone wanting to decentralize their fleet’s
electronic countermeasure capabilities and make them immeasurably harder
to counter, few things will serve better than a squadron or two of
these little vessels.

Developer: Viziam

Viziam ships are quite possibly the most durable ships money can buy.
Their armor is second to none and that, combined with superior shields,
makes them hard nuts to crack. Of course this does mean they are rather
slow and possess somewhat more limited weapons and electronics options.

It ticks a lot of boxes as a Frigate destroyer for me, particularly a few variations that rely on capacitor and turrets. So I undock and warp to the 2/10
The Jaguar seems to be in two minds as it takes him a little while to come to me, but when he does he warps in nearly on top of me, not ideal as his damage would hurt at such range... That it does, but overloaded energy neutralisers soon shut his propulsion and tackle mods down, which allows me to gain range and use my tracking disruptor to full effect.

Once at range it is pretty much over as he valiantly tries to swat my drones, but the little critters are tenacious and tear the Jaguar apart, piece by piece.

Kenzo Shimada > gfKane Rizzel > gfKenzo Shimada > never seen this ship in action beforeKenzo Shimada > niceKane Rizzel > I've only been flying it a few days, enjoying it, something differentKenzo Shimada > I have to confess, that I underestimated it a littleKenzo Shimada > but then my cap was gone^^Kane Rizzel > I'm finding most people areKane Rizzel > yeah, it caps frigates pretty quicklyKane Rizzel > you got very close in the beginning and got web on, thought I was done forKenzo Shimada > yup, but then within a few secs my cap was goneKenzo Shimada > and so were youKenzo Shimada > couldn't get any closer to youKenzo Shimada > good fight though o7Kane Rizzel > yeah, gf o7

A few minutes later, a Retribution class assault frigate enters system and I guess he'll be heading to the 2/10. I undock the Sentinel again and DSCAN shows him where I expect, I warp over, overheat everything, I land and the DSCAN shows him inside the plex, probably waiting at zero, which is not ideal for me, but I warp in anyways... Yup, he's waiting for me and I hit him with a full force of neuts, but a single volley from his medium pulse lasers strips my shields, the second volley puts me at half armour, if it carries on like this my Sentinel won't be long for this Verse... I probably forgot to mention this thing has no tank whatsoever :)

I struggle to get range, but an overheated afterburner pulls me out to 15km, my tracking disruptor playing havoc with his laser optimal range, and shortly there-after he stops shooting altogether as his cap runs dry. A tense few seconds for me becomes frustration for the Retribution pilot as my drones are now free to do as they want to the golden ship, and what they want is explosions.

He accepts and I disengage my tackle and let him go on his merry, although 50million ISK poorer :)

Operation IVY

A rather large fleet of EVE University rolls through Gus (add to that a Manticore and two further Stilettos)
I shall use this opportunity to promote a rather useful tool for all your FC/Scouting needs, DingoGS's FC Toolbox.Kane Rizzel > there's an acre of you fellasJake Uta > Do you know the way to Rens?Kane Rizzel > go get some more and I'll take you onJake Uta > http://i.imgur.com/AvHwD.gifKane Rizzel > what's a rens?powerfreak evans > a systempowerfreak evans > ;)

Nothing comes of this however as they move on.

Links up: A tale of two Maledictions

The family is back in Gusandall, for the moment, and as such I employed the use of skirmish links for this next fight.

A single Malediction enters Gusandall, naturally assuming it will be going to the 2/10, I board something a little more daring to take on the rocket based interceptor, an Incursus.

Incursus

The Incursus may be found both spearheading and bulwarking Gallente military operations. Its speed makes it excellent for skirmishing duties, while its resilience helps it outlast its opponents on the battlefield. Incursus-class ships move together in groups and can quickly and effectively gang up on ships many times their size and overwhelm them. In recent years the Incursus has increasingly found its way into the hands of pirates, who love its aggressive appearance. Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Armor Repairer effectiveness and 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage per skill level.

I undock and warp straight to the 2/10 and sure enough, the Malediction warps in at range... And continues to stay at range whilst holding me tackled.

Alekseyev Karrde > let you go for 3milKane Rizzel > :)

There's no way I'm going to catch him at the rate he's moving, and there's no way in hell I'm going quietly without getting a shot off, so gang is formed and skirmish links go up. I overheat my mods and try to activate them but for some reason the overheat primer has fused my mods and I sit helpless as the Malediction skilfully pilots around me, I bide my time, he's holding me for a reason, which soon becomes apparent as his corpmate jumps into system in another Malediction.

This is when the fight gets interesting, after what felt like 5 minutes of me trying to slingshot into range, the first Malediction starts to close, I try to tackle it, but my mods are still fused, I toggle overheat a few times, eventually I can activate my mods and the fight begins in earnest. Second Malediction warps in and starts to close, my blasters start playing merry havoc with the firsts armour but he seems to be repping well, but only a matter of seconds till he breaks, and break he does, I turn all attention to the second Malediction, I'm easily repping his damage and he's doing the same to mine... It's about now I remember I have a drone to use...

For fucks sake, this will be the first deployment of this drone since I started using this particular Incursus and he's raring to go, I unleash the wee beastie and he zips across the void to add to my Null damage and the second Malediction explodes.

Alekseyev Karrde > vgfKane Rizzel > gfKane Rizzel > gfKane Rizzel > very gfPreestar > gfKane Rizzel > my overheating wasn't working for most of thatKane Rizzel > very weirdAlekseyev Karrde > Rizzel, did you have off grid armor links for that?Kane Rizzel > just skirmishAlekseyev Karrde > tank was wicked broKane Rizzel > but my overheat wasn't workingKane Rizzel > the incursus is mad tankKane Rizzel > built in bonusAlekseyev Karrde > ayeAlekseyev Karrde > havnt actually tried to kill one w just frigates since the patchKane Rizzel > it's a nasty little ship and a beast with nullKane Rizzel > good fight though, wasn't going to catch you even with skirmish if you didn't come in, was just biding my time :)Alekseyev Karrde > p much the same on our end. I knew i couldnt take you by myself, but i was surprised the two males couldnt break the local. Now i know heheAlekseyev Karrde > gotta scoot

A good fight from good opponents :)

In other news

Long time friend and Celebrity Death Match founder, Nashh Kadavr is leaving the Capsule behind and retiring to a terran existence, all the best old friend, may your skies always be friendly :)

Edit: I've been asked a few times now, those are my knuckles in the previous blog :)

Saturday, 20 October 2012

Cuddy had only been a guard for a few days, but already he had absorbed
one important and basic fact: it is almost impossible for anyone to be
in a street without breaking the law. -- (Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms)

Life in Gusandall has been good over the years, with old friends departed, some new friends have appeared and whilst Gus is no longer the fortress it once was in those halcyon days, it's still my home.

As old friends have departed, so have old foes and Gus sometimes feels a very lonely place but I have in the past shown great patience and so it is now that I practice it. The 2/10 seems to have livened up a bit and I've cut my teeth on a few new frigates. The Incursus is much fun and the Sentinel is beyond ridiculous fun as well if a bit frustrating.

The universe has changed, with as many cloaked strategic cruisers about as things that have changed. This of course makes hunting more difficult as strategic cruiser pilots are terribly gun shy, running or cloaking as soon as anything with a heart beat enters local.

Eifer has lost a lot of what once made it a haven for good fights, it seems aspiring combat pilots no longer see it as a place to cut their teeth.

I don't know what the answer is to bring good fights back, if only with I had the time to commit to bringing the glory back to my little pocket of space.

So hunting now requires more patience and a lot more luck, but always, keep your eyes open.

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Using
a metaphor in front of a man as unimaginative as Ridcully was like a
red flag to a bu-- was like putting something very annoying in front of
someone who was annoyed by it.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

Through
various back channels an op of some significance was forming, Molden
Heath the host, I was informed that I would be required to bring a
plated Rupture, a quick scan of my hangars in Bosena confirming I had
said ship available so I made preparations to clone jump, instead of
making the x jumps from my home in Gusandall. As the area had been sort
of barren of late, I was certain a change of scenery might even change
my luck.

I
jumped over and contracted my Rupture to a carrier pilot who would be
jumping it to the staging system, once done I joined the locals in
harassing some Russians who had engaged an acquaintance one system over,
unfortunately I started taking sentry fire as the locals were at war
with the Russians and I was the only one who took GCC. With me yo-yoing
to and from the gate we managed to kill three Drakes and scattered the
Russians to the four winds. My Oracle in deep armour when the dust
settled.

Back in Bosena it was time to move the staging system and once there I started waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting...

The
op muster had come and gone, but I was informed plans had changed so I
raced back to Bosena, to be told I would need an interceptor or assault
frigate... Of which I had none so I started to peruse the well stocked
Bosena market and bought a Stiletto class interceptor and went about the
task of fitting it.

One
of the rigs I had chosen presented me with a small problem, 114million
SP and I couldn't fit it as I didn't have the skill 0_o

A quick trade with Tits and he kindly fit the rig for me.

So there I was, in an interceptor class I had never flown before, but eager to have some fun with it.

Soon
we undocked and following our FC, the might Dirty Protagonist's orders we're soon on our way, the general
plan was to find some Russians and start a fight, but as with most
things, the plan doesn't always go as it should and we made a trip
through Great Wildlands, trying as best we could to not give away
details of our fleet or what direction we were coming from, but the
Russians didn't seem too bothered and their supposed muster had also
passed, many online but little movement on their part. Fact is, most of us had no clue where we were going either, but the promise of violence is like one of those things, where folk can't resist.

Eventually
news of their dread deployment reaches us but our scouts lose track of
them as the surrounding area is lit up with cynos, scouts move every
which way but it is Sard Caid who brings the best news... Dreads sieging
POCOs... But not Russian dreads. But that's not going to stop us now.
The fleet had swelled to a massive thirty assorted frigates,
interceptors, assault frigates, a destroyer and a single Caracal.

Sard
barrels in with his Condor of Destruction and lays down the tackle, the
dreads start to scatter and Sard points one of the Naglfar, the other
getting caught up on the POCO. This didn't help it at all as our fleet
of mixed frigates, Thrasher and a Caracal descended upon the hapless
dreads. Blotting out the star, we swarmed over the two Naglfar, grabbing
points as the dreads cycled in and out of siege. Our minuscule DPS must
have seemed amusing but we had one of the dreads at half shields when
the suggestion of shooting each other was given, so that they could
whore onto each others kill mails and to shorten the agonising minutes
it would take for them to die, with no attempt from their corp mates to
bring a support fleet to counter us and maybe save the multi billion ISK
dreadnoughts.

The
Russian dreads never materialised even after we used a Niddhogur
carrier at one of their POS to induce a fight, so we just went in and
incapacitated the warp disruption battery and then went home... All in
all, a good night.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

I haven't met with a great deal of success since my return to Gusandall , certain miscalculations and general combat rustiness making me seem less than competent. I have bitten off more than I can chew on occasion and made great errors in judgement on others. Recent redesigns of favourite ships has made them slightly less stellar than they have been in the past and made others more potent than I remember but that just makes me more determined to make them work.

My lack of intel seems to be a quite large factor in my failures. The 1v1s I've lost were mainly down to me misjudging my opponents and failure to pilot properly, seems my long break had a greater impact than I first thought.

Or could it be that my heart just isn't in it anymore? Maybe I've lost that passion that drove me all these years to be a name, a force to be reckoned with, not just another in a long line of faces that nobody remembers.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

As castles went, this one looked as though it could be taken by a small squad of not very efficient soldiers. For defence, putting a blanket over your head might be marginally safer. -- (Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant)

The one constant in the EVE universe is, you are never safe. It is something I like to remind folk of from time to time and when some plex farmer decides to set up shop in Gusandall, you just know summer is over and school is about to commence.

The Thrasher appears on d-scan in the third room and the Rifter I'm in doesn't have the tools needed to get there. So a quick warp back to the station, grab something that had said tools, undocked and warped to the plex entrance.

The Rifter hulled Wolf class assault frigate, with warp trailing off its sleek hull, immediately activates the gate as it lands, going through the motions as it reaches the next gate, and again in the next room.

Finally in the third room of the complex, the Thrasher doesn't appear on my overview, so using the d-scanner, I start trying to pinpoint his location.

Station and sun? ... Not there.Various stargates? ... Not there.Belts and moons? ... Not there.

Very curious... I narrow down to 90 degrees and start a quick sweep of system.Strangely enough, he appears directly above me, so I start to narrow the search and eventually have him on a 5 degree sweep, I hit my MWD and head in the direction of the scan, as it appears Mr Thrasher is trying to hide off of Mr Grid.

It doesn't take long, only a few hundred kilometres, as I have a rough idea how big the grid in the last room is, before he appears on my overview, 150 clicks away. I sneak up on him as best I can, he seemingly oblivious to my presence, doing his nails as he lets me get right within disruptor range.

From here on in it's pretty much over as I settle into optimal range and open fire, he eventually wakes up, but it's too late as he explodes. He mumbles something in Russian as he warps his escape pod out, leaving me with the delicious loot.

Not much else happening of note recently, unless you count me trying to take on a Hawk in my Rifter and losing, but I did give it a good old whack :)

Saturday, 18 August 2012

Anathema didn't only believe in ley-lines, but in seals, whales, bicycles, rainforests, whole grain in loves, recycled paper, white South Africans out of South Africa, and Americans out of practically everywhere down to and including Long Island.

-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

Over my many years of Piracy, there has been one constant... The Rifter.No ship embodies freedom and aggression quite like it. From my first days as an immortal I always loved her lines, her class unequaled for many years. However, things have changed since I went away, no longer the King of the proverbial hill, the Rifter is just another frigate... But that doesn't mean I like her any less, and with this in mind the Kane Class Rifter that you see in my new banner was born. Her layout is a secret but for many of you, a quick glance at my losses, you will see my standard Rifter has not changed much at all over the years.

I undock the Cunning Man, feeling like a stranger in my own system, all the new faces and not a friend amongst them, but this doesn't stop me, nothing does. The family will not be involved in any of my future fights, unless for scouting and probing in the acquisition of others wealth, tech 1 frigates my toys, the Rifter my choice.

I head over to my spiritual home and home to many a great tale from yours truly, Eifer.My lucky pounce has been set up very carefully, able to scan all the belts quickly and efficiently...

A quick scan shows another Rifter in the direction of the V cluster, I warp to the central belt of the cluster, which makes scanning the others easier and start to track him. He's moving very fast, only a matter of time as I start to follow his warps to belts...

I warp to belt 4, where he seems to linger a fraction too long and as warped space streams off my Rifter hull I see him engaging an Angel frigate. I start to close, The Angels and I don't see eye to eye, no honour amongst thieves it seems as they quite often attack me even as I try to save their dumb asses, but this Angel frigate doesn't stand much chance against my targets Rifter, but he does serve as a needed distraction and lasts just long enough for me to close within range of warp scramblers and webs. Both kick in simultaneously and I open fire, my target returns the favour and the dance is on as he tanks me rather handily whilst trying to neutralize my capacitor but he runs out of cap first, his repairer and neutralizer shutting down in unison, I'm not even in armour yet as I punch round after round of auto-cannon ammunition into his hull. Great big holes being torn into the Rifter's structure and it violently explodes. As I try to lock the pod and offer ransom, he warps out, 'good fight' shared over local comms.

Whilst waiting out my aggression timer, with my guns and tackle nearly at melting point, an Incursus class frigate appears. this gallente ship quite formidable in the right hands, so I warp to where he appears to be, only to see him aligning towards the Emolgranlan gate. I align towards the sun and assess the situation, a quick close up of his ship revealing blasters. This meant I would have to try and fight well into my falloff with Barrage if I were to stand a chance, and even then it would require some skill to pull it off as the pilot seemed familiar to me.

He slows and I take this as my cue to start closing by spiraling into range, not wanting to head directly at him, making it easier for him to slingshot on top of me, he turns and starts his own maneuvers to close the gap, both of us lighting our afterburners, mine only at 75% thrust. I can't afford to overheat my tackle or weapons as the heat would melt them, rendering them useless and ending this fight before it really gets started.Incursus is getting closer, I turn away, lower my speed and let hem get close enough before turning ninety degrees as he gets into scram and web range, tackle glows green and we start shooting at each other, my Barrage rounds landing at 9km, whilst my shields start taking damage. He starts to close as the damage increases so I set full thrust and overload my afterburner as I imagine that's what he's doing to close under a stasis webifier effect.

He's tanking my damage well, this fight not going my way, I needed a little luck and I received it as his tank broke, seemingly out of cap, overloading his afterburner and cap hungry guns along with his obviously overheated repper doing to his capacitor what I was trying to do to his armour. He enters hull as my overheated afterburner, burns out the mod next to it, my warp scrambler, does he notice before it's too late?

Again, 'good fight' shared in local and I decide to call it a night, it's hot and I could use a refreshing beverage.

[OOC UPDATE]It has now been 26 months since I gave up alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, recently decided to go full vegetarian as I have been eating less meat and doing bits of research for a future project with my career. I also gave up sugar four months ago and have lost close to 22kg as a result, to celebrate this latest milestone I decided on another tattoo and started this:

Two hours under the needle on the first session before I gave up, very uncomfortable over the ribs but will look awesome once done :)

Thursday, 16 August 2012

Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often *students*, for heaven's sake.

-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)

The amazing Joe Struck was commissioned many moons ago to do some work for me, and even as I took a lengthy break, he busied himself with the task at hand and I'm pleased to unveil said hard work this fine evening to you.

And with that, I'll be Killing it Old School, go back to my roots, Tech 1 frigates will be my focus.

Monday, 6 August 2012

Natural selection saw to it that professional heroes who at a crucial moment tended to ask themselves questions like "What is my purpose in life?" very quickly lacked both. -- (Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times)

In trying to gauge the capabilities of the new locals, I have lost a few ships foolishly, or so I would like them to think, but mainly foolishly, I'm a little rusty from my long break. Their will is strong, their capabilities decent... But their smack is lacking.

What I can say is they are a little gun shy when they don't outnumber you, which in my case means they are reluctant to 1v1.

Much like any opponent of overwhelming numbers in the past, I need to be more patient and choose my targets, fight on my terms, may we all live in Interesting Times

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

It was hard enough to kill a vampire. You could stake them down and turn them into dust and ten years later someone drops a drop of blood in the wrong place and *guess who's back*? They returned more times than raw broccoli.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

The return had not been planned, these things never are, but as with most things that go unplanned, one starts as one wishes to continue.

Thursday, 7 June 2012

It's a metaphor of human bloody existence, a dragon. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's also a bloody great hot flying thing. -- Captain Vimes ponders his problems (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

Who knew it would be so difficult to post a blog, seems Blogger's dashboard has been updated and I can't find anything. Oh well.

I'm not dead, far from it, enjoying the finer things in life.
New tattoos:

Three hours yesterday of the most excruciating pain, worth every second :)

The tattoos are of great significance to me, both are mementos of almost two years of being Straight Edge. July 1st is a big day for me as I will celebrate two years of clean living: No cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol.

"Cast off the crutch that kills the pain"

Have found a new place to live, two minutes walk from work and cheap as chips, but only move in about ten days, till then staying at a friends place, just up the road from work. My whole universe is in storage and I have decided the next time I have to move house I'm just going to torch everything and start from scratch. The things we own, end up owning us.

At the moment I'm spunging internet from my friend on my small laptop as all my computer gear is in storage. I have also allowed my accounts to expire 0_o, but Clan Rizzel will be back... Eventually :)

That's about it, I kinda miss EVE, mostly for the people I know and who know me.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

You did something because it had always been done, and the explanation
was "but we've always done it this way." A million dead people can't
have been wrong, can they? -- (Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant)

Apologies for my absence of late but I have been busy elsewhere, enjoying the simple things. My accounts are still active and I might log in to change skills when I can.

I'll also be moving home soon, closer to work so just another thing that will keep me occupied and away from my beloved Gusandall.

Thursday, 26 April 2012

"This is a lovely party," said the Bursar to a chair, "I wish I was here." -- The Bursar is a man under a *lot* of stress (Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies)

As has happened many times, I completely missed two significant dates in my Life, first and foremost, the sixth anniversary of my first clone activation, and yesterday was my fifth anniversary in NovaKane and solo Piracy.

Still a noob after all these years

One or two small changes will be coming to A Pirates Perspective soon™

Monday, 23 April 2012

People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across
the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them
from behind rocks then say things like, "Oh. Sorry. I thought you were
someone else." -- Carrot travels to Ankh-Morpork (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

I arrived in my hangar in Gusandall station and was greeted by a message from one of the new locals, a challenge, a battle.

CptHaoc > where is megathron?
Kane Rizzel > on Cybetron with the rest of the Decepticons :P
CptHaoc > that answer made me reapproach
Kane Rizzel > lol
CptHaoc > undock. its time

How could I resist, my mighty Megathron war ship versus what I assumed would be a Maelstrom vessel of doom.

And so it was, I took my time, needed to do some stuff around the hangar first, checked and re-checked my ammo, cap boosters, seeing where I could jam a few more into the cargo hold, checked all mods, drones, and drugs.

I made myself a cup of Earl Grey and quietly enjoyed it before boarding Gasplode and undocking.

Battle would take place at Asteroid Belt 1-1, I warped in at a range I felt comfortable with and waited, sure enough, a Maelstrom appears on scan, just as a friend in a Megatrhon of his own jumped into system. I asked Kash to stay out of it and he kindly obliged. The Mael warps in, I drop a flight of Garde II sentries and closed, he drops Hammer IIs and a Berzerker SW-900 Heavy web drone.

I closed, pulsed the smart-bomb in my utility high, engaged web and scram and proceeded to introduce hot anti matter into the Maelstroms pulsing shields.

His tank was amazing, I took a hit of Exile and started micro managing my reps and boosters, he was boosting a third of his shields with each pulse and doing great damage. It was going to come down to cap boosters.

I had gotten him to about half armour but his impressive tank would hold as long as his cap boosters did but he stopped doing damage as I easily repped back to full armour.

CptHaoc > weapons burned

Well that would make it easier, I turned off tank, stopped cap boosting but continued to harass his shields.

And just like that, I made 100mil and the Mael lives to War another day. He warps out and I make way to retrieve my sentry drones when suddenly Pilgrim, decloaks off my starboard and engages, neuts firing the last remnants of my cap into oblivion, tracking disrupted and drones swarming me it seems like I'm done for, helpless.

I reload my cap booster and start firing off one at a time, pulsing my smartbomb but leaving my reppers off, I close to zero on the Grim and start to batter it, the Maelstrom pilot returns to the field in a Hurricane and helps me mop up.

Sakari Orisi > gf
Kane Rizzel > gf

I had three no charges in my cap booster...

Kane Rizzel > I had six more charges

But six in the medium container in my hold called 'Farjung <3'

Kane Rizzel > :)
Saara Orisi > Bah, so close

Not close enough.

Thanks to CptHaoc for coming back to help, Kash warped his Mega in at the end along with another of Haoc's corp mates in a Drake.

CptHaoc > ur mega is a beast.Kane Rizzel > thanks
CptHaoc > dunno what can i do next about that
Kane Rizzel > the tank on that mael was something else tbh
CptHaoc > well, i spent a few isk on a booster
CptHaoc > burning out my guns, is a true fail.
Kane Rizzel > happens tbh
Kane Rizzel > sometimes if you ungroup a few won't be burnt

Saturday, 21 April 2012

It was a puzzle why things were always dragged kicking and screaming. No
one ever seemed to want to, for example, lead them gently by the hand. -- (Terry Pratchett, The Truth)

Arasul > in your opinionArasul > starlingArasul > what went wrongThestarling > well there seemed to be a lot of themThestarling > and not as many of youThestarling > which is always a problemArasul > i concur my good man

Monday, 16 April 2012

- I USHERED SOULS INTO THE NEXT WORLD. I WAS THE GRAVE OF ALL HOPE. I WAS THE ULTIMATE REALITY. I WAS THE ASSASSIN AGAINST WHOM NO LOCK WOULD HOLD.- "Yes, point taken, but do you have any particular skills?" -- Death consults a job broker (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

I have received some tasty job offers and offers to make a quick ISK or two

buissnessFrom: Davch JaawaSent: 2012.03.31 23:05To: Kane Rizzel,

Hey i have a suggestion for you let me take that bounty off your head and i will give you 1/3 of the value of it

And more recently

Job OfferFrom: Davch JaawaSent: 2012.04.16 17:41To: Kane Rizzel,

Helllo Mr. Rizzel i have a job offer for you i have two people i would like dead i am willing to pay 10,000,000 a head i will pay 5mill up front and the other 5 mill when you have completed my task this will come to a totall pay out of 20,000,000 for the pair. you may ask why not just put a bounty on their heads well there sec status is to high.

Please msg me if you accept i will forward the cash to you account on acceptance

p.s. you seem like a man that knows how to get shit done show me. the players you will be facing 2 month old accounts im sure you can handle it

CONCORD warps in and destroys each one of our destroyers, justice dispensed, our escape pods, escaping rather sharpish, the Vargur's escape pod not so lucky. We head back to lowsec, GFGF in local, giggling all the way.

EVE Online and the EVE logo are the registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights are reserved worldwide. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. EVE Online, the EVE logo, EVE and all associated logos and designs are the intellectual property of CCP hf. All artwork, screenshots, characters, vehicles, storylines, world facts or other recognizable features of the intellectual property relating to these trademarks are likewise the intellectual property of CCP hf. CCP hf. has granted permission to A Pirates Perspective to use EVE Online and all associated logos and designs for promotional and information purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not in any way affiliated with, A Pirates Perspective. CCP is in no way responsible for the content on or functioning of this website, nor can it be liable for any damage arising from the use of this website.